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Web Versions of Office: About Effing Time!

This morning at the PDC keynote, one of the announcements made was about the online, web-based versions of the Office Apps we know and love: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. They look better than their Google Apps equivalents — so good that it’s quite hard to tell the web version from the desktop version. Take a look…

Word

Take a look at these two photos that I took at the keynote. Which one is the desktop Word and which one is the web Word?

word_for_office_14_web
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

word_for_office_14_desktop
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

The answer: The top one is the web version; the bottom one is the desktop version.

OneNote

Try the same thing again, this time as OneNote:

onenote_for_office_14_desktop
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

onenote_for_office_14_web
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

The answer: The top one is the desktop version; the bottom one is the web version.

Excel

One more time, with Excel:

excel_for_office_14_desktop
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

excel_for_office_14_web
Click the picture to see it on its Flickr page, where you can see it in larger sizes.

The answer: The top one is the desktop version; the bottom one is the web version.

Live Collaboration

One more thing: in the demo, they were running the web, desktop and phone versions simultaneously on the same document, with each user’s edits updating the other two’s versions. There are some great collaborative possibilities here.

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Slice of Life from PDC, Part 2: Channel 9 Guy Meets Accordion Guy

Channel 9 Guy meets Accordion Guy
Click the photo to see it on its Flickr page.

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Slice of Life from PDC, Part 1: Choose Wisely (or: The Snack Tables)

One nice thing about PDC: there are plenty of free snacks, some of which are healthy, some of which, well, not so much…

"Choose wisely": a snack table at PDC, with both junk food and fruits

Choose wisely, my geeky friends.

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Off to PDC!

Old comic panel: Now the fun begins!
Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

I’m on my way to PDC2008. I expect to land at LAX at 11:00 Pacific and should be there for the afternoon sessions and evening hijinks. See you there!

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Your PDC2008 Bingo Card (Plus a Chance to Make Your Own)

No tech conference is complete without a Bingo Card, and I noticed that nobody’s made one for PDC yet! As a brand-new Microsoft Developer Evangelist who’s trying to make a splash during the three-month probationary period, I took matters into my own hands. Pictured below is the PDC2008 Bingo Card — simply fill out a square as you see or hear what’s described in the square at any point in the conference:

"PDC Bingo" card

I would’ve make a “Keynote Bingo” card, but as someone still new to this particular scene, I haven’t been to a Microsoft conference in a very long time, and I don’t know what Ray Ozzie’s particular keynote mannerisms and speech patterns are. Hence this card, which is generalized to cover the entire conference and not just the keynotes.

Developer Evangelism is all about helping you make your own stuff, and conference bingo cards are no exception! Click here for a blank version of the PDC Bingo card where you can supply your own text. I recommend you use the “Segoe UI” font, which comes standard with Vista.

If you make your own bingo card and post it online, send me a link in the comments!

Credit Where Credit is Due

I can’t finish this post without mentioning my fellow evangelist (and tech training buddy) John Bristowe, who suggested I make a Bingo card for PDC. Thanks, John, and see you in L.A. tomorrow!